The Distressor offers much more flexability, tone and control. 100% better than the dbx 160A.

if you deicide on the 160 go with the 160x a bit older but about half the price on ebay. its a good first outboard comp imo

is the dbx even in the same class soundwise as the distressor though??

Jazzy655,
The DBX and Distressor are radically different. The DBX 160A IMHO offers fairly smooth VCA style compression. However, the Distressor offers several various compression styles. It is extremely more versatile. You will probably get a lot more mileage from the Distressor because it can be adapted to a lot more situations than the DBX 160A. I hope this helps.

jazzy655 wrote: But I think the plugs are missing what I need for that true thump.

Are you sure you need a better compressor? Some other area of the production may have much much more effect on the 'thump'!

I had a DBX, it really wasn't anything other than a paperweight after a while. It sat in my closet for so long, I almost forgot I had it. I just sold it on ebay about a month or so ago. I would have just gave it to you jazzy655 for your girlfriend. :lol: (Oh yeah...I forgot)
The DBX stuff is.....mmmmmm
O.K. :?
But I just didn't hear too much about it that was "wow" or "awesome".
But rather more like, hmmmmm, and well :?
All I can say with truth is that they make an affordable compressor. But would I buy another one?
Most likely not. It really was only so good IMO.

I hear you about the dbx. Thats what i was wondering. "Good for the money" is not what i'm looking for. I need good period.

Hey jamiey,
As far as another solution did you mean gear wise?
Here's what i'm working with:

Roland Fantom S Synth => ISA 428 => RME ADI-2 ad/da => Cubase SX. All mogami cabling.

Lets not even talk about monitors, cause i'm truly ashamed of what i'm working with. I believe this is a pretty solid and usable setup.
Could it be the way i'm tracking. Do i need a DI, or is it ok to just track straight into the ISA 428?

Any help fellas??

jazzy655 wrote: I need good period.

Now that's what I'm talking about! How else are you gonna bring this world to their knees!
Jazzy655 the distressor "does it all". It does like 3 or 4 types of "big name" compression.
I want a Distressor REAL bad :!: Mainly because of it's versatility. But also because I read that it can make a certain sound on vocals (I won't go into that -it's not relevant)
Now what I don't know is for sure jazzy, is if it's what you want for the type of music you are doing.
Maybe someone else knows if it's any good on rap, and r&b, and hiphop

What exactly is your monitoring situation? What do you use? What are your mixing conditions (room)? I would bet that this will make an impact on your overall mix more than a compressor....even the distressor!

if you need something that is really evil on drums, then check the focusrite compounder... for dance music stuff, it's really doing the thumbdy, dumbdy :D

i don't know any compressor i've used wich is doing a really good job on every material... if you want 'really good period', then keep the purpose / material in mind you wan't to compress... i wouldn't use the compounder on vox or any "transparent" material, at all, but for dance music drums... WOW.. thumbing & Pumping... it will pull the pants from the punters on the floor :twisted:

jamiey wrote:

Are you sure you need a better compressor? Some other area of the production may have much much more effect on the 'thump'!

i agree, keep that in mind as well, even the "best" compressor wan't do it all...

ahh... and i forgot, i got always pretty good results out of the 160a and also the cheap 166xl for DRUMS... like 'em for that...

ive found my 160x to work on anything, is it the best on every thing no, but it will work for everything well if its all you got.

good point guys. what i'm really trying to combat here is my drums sounding too distant. my soft comps just aren't doing it, and besides that, I dont have a hardware compressor anywhere in my studio. So i'm thinking it would also be good for tracking. These are my main reasons for querying about a good hardware comp.

I've found that stacking my snares and kicks helps a lot though.
Still a little too distant though. Really it's the same issue with my
vocals.

You guys can hear some of the stuff i'm trying to mix at http://www.somobe.com/dj
it'll give you a better idea of what i'm trying to fix.

i haven't listened to the mix, yet
but what kind of plugs do you use, that they don't "do the job" ??

The problem with the dbx for your needs is that you can't adjust attack or release, which are critical to getting punchy sounding drum tracks (very short release specifically). FWIW, I've been using BLOCKFISH by digitalfishphones (freeware) as a drum mix bus compressor, it's really good and has a nice saturation feature. I bought a RNC as a mainmix bus comp for doing quick mixes through the board, "real nice" for the money, but not the quality of the Distressor.

uhhh... yeah blockfish, i second that one, my fave plug comp.

axel wrote: i haven't listened to the mix, yet
but what kind of plugs do you use, that they don't "do the job" ??

i mainly use the rcomps for drums. sometimes i'll use the UAD-1 stuff on drums. But i'll check out the blockfish

I'm going to echo what most of the other replies have said. If I've got to choose my first outboard comp, I'm going with the distressor. You are getting not only a good sounding comp, but a very versatile one also. It's a great piece to play on and really learn what compression does.